Horrifying new data reveals no country safe from coronavirus’ deadly tentacles
HORRIFYING new data reveals the unstoppable spread of deadly coronavirus across the globe.
An incredible five million Wuhan residents fled ground-zero before the Chinese city was placed on lockdown.
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The data by Southampton University estimates the virus's spread for the next three months.
It's based on the mobile phone and flight data of 60,000 of five million residents who fled Wuhan - where coronavirus originated - before the region was properly locked down.
The research group used tech data to predict the spread, with shocking results.
Thousands of air passengers who's data was mapped travelled to 382 cities outside of mainland China in the days leading up to January 23 - Wuhan's lockdown date.
FLED GROUND-ZERO
And the team warns: "The majority of these cities were in Asia, but major hubs in Europe, the US and Australia were also prominent, with strong correlation seen between predicted importation risks and reported cases seen".
Researchers urge screening at origin high-risk cities across the globe before April - and that's simply to limit the spread beyond it's current extent.
During China's Lunar New Year, scores of potentially infected Chinese residents from high-risk cities travelled to Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Australia.
They also spread across Africa, hitting Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.
The study's author's concluded: "Further spread of 2019-nCoV within China and international exportation is likely to occur,” the authors concluded".
They warned all cities should be prepared to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Jin Dong-Yan, a molecular virologist at Hong Kong University’s School of Biomedical Sciences morosely concluded: "It’s definitely too late...Five million out. That’s a big challenge. Many of them may not come back to Wuhan but hang around somewhere else".
The news comes after an East Sussex GP surgery was placed on lockdown as two medics were diagnosed with the virus.
VIRUS HITS BRITS
Four more people were confirmed as having the virus today – taking the total number of cases in the UK to eight.
The new cases – three men and a woman – are all known contacts of a businessman who was diagnosed in Brighton last week.
The middle-aged “super-spreader” contracted the virus at a conference in Singaporebefore travelling to a ski chalet in France.
Public Health England Medical Director Yvonne Doyle said: “As a result of our contact tracing we now know the new cases announced today are all closely linked to one another.
“Our priority has been to speak to those who have close and sustained contact with confirmed cases, so we can advise them on what they can do to limit the spread of the virus.
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“Two of these new cases are healthcare workers and as soon as they were identified, we advised them to self-isolate in order to keep patient contact to a minimum.
“We are now working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact, and at this stage we believe this to be a relatively small number.
“We would like to thank all those who have followed public health advice and have taken the necessary steps to reduce the risk to the general public.”
- An earlier version of this article included a map shared by researchers at the University of Southampton. The researchers did not mention the map wasn't part of the study
